Heart of the Warrior

Chapter 19 - The Final Battle

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Orphan was dead. Not, yet, I the physical sense but against seven angry and fully empowered l'Cie what chance did it stand? Though he gripped his sword tightly, Cloud hung back to let those who deserved it more take the first shot. A glance from his peripherals caught sight of the pink-haired warrior reaching out her arm; catching her wrist, Cloud flung her forward with all the strength that his exhausted muscles could muster and watched as she hit the baby-like face in a twirling attack, striking the face three times.

Lightning's attacks were lost in the volley that followed: the torrent of fiery orange and Non-Elemental spells, cast by the Pilot, Oerban and Silver-haired youth. Suddenly, a flash of beige shot passed him, Snow delivered a bone-shattering uppercut to the porcelain baby face and launched Orphan skyward; a dark-haired woman, pushing off from the trench-coat wearing man, and slammed the demon-Fal'Cie powerfully onto the ground. All the while, Orphan screamed, loudly and shrilly; and as Light came around for her final attack, something black and slimy slithered out of the widened mouth and pounced like a striking zolom. However, Cloud swung his massive sword with three overpowering swipes and the tongue fell to the floor; thick, petrol-smelling gore splattered the walls and floor. Orphan's death cry did not last much longer, as Light's attacks hit home and broke apart the porcelain face.

The Fal'Cie froze, completely silent, when a blinding blue light burst from behind; Orphan fell backward, shrinking as it descended. Smaller and smaller until the Fal'Cie disappeared into, what appeared to be, a single, judgmental eye. Suddenly the world went dark, the only light emanating eerily from the window-like eye. Vanille and Hope let out howls of shock.

Cloud wheeled around and saw, with disbelieving eyes, that the throne room was dissolving; makes sense, he reasoned, with Orphan gone there was no need to maintain the cradle. Just then, the floor dropped from beneath their feet, though they did not fall. They hung high in the air, higher than the top of the Sanctum's tower, watching as screams from people below rose like a terrifying song and the hordes of monsters falling dead to the ground. Snow gasped loudly; Cloud's eyes widened with shock as the man's skin began to shine a wonderful icy-blue. Gazing amongst the others, the spikey-haired man found Sazh, Hope and Lightning's skin to each be doing the same.

"Stay together" called Light to the others. It was when Cloud joined hands with Lightning and Snow that he saw it; the gusting winds forced his neck downward and he could see the growing devastation. Fiery cracks were ripping across the ground and chunks of the earth were beginning to fly upward, but amidst the chaos were the two Oerban woman, hand-in-hand and smiling gently. Cloud's stomach knotted, he knew that smile (he'd seen it before), it was the relentless, unforgiving smile of farewell. Snow and Hope called out to them though they made no response; they turned to each other, looked deeply into each other's eyes. Two bright lights radiated from their bodies (one from Vanille's leg, the other from Fang's shoulder) and engulfed them in their radiance; the lights grew in their brilliance, and the women vanished into their depths. A loud 'SNAP' ripped across the group as the tower below cracked and sending massive shards of glass upward. A shocked gasped stole their attention. Cloud's neck snapped sharply towards the source and Sazh lifted a startled finger at him.

Looking down, Cloud felt his heart miss a beat as a familiar icy-blue shine was dancing across the crook of his bandaged elbow. The secret was out. But something then caught his eye: through a shard of glass that sailed passed the looks of disbelief and horror, he could see two objects falling rapidly to the floor of the world behind him. Both were a radiant, greenish-blue and distinctly crystalline...Cloud's eyes widened in terror: if those hit the ground at that speed, neither would recover!